Customers/Clients

Your marketing includes way too much you

March 14, 2013

One of the most common mistakes marketers make is that they think their customers and prospects care about them, what they sell and how it works. The human truth is consumers really do think, feel and ask “what’s in it for me?”

They have something they want to accomplish – from getting a cereal that their kids will eat to finding the right de-greaser for their airplane engines. They know the result they’re after and their buying decision is going to be based on satisfying that need.

When it comes to buying decisions, those decisions are always:

• Based on emotion (positive or negative ones)
• Based on meeting our needs and wants (even implicit)

And the truth of it is, consumers usually don’t care about understanding the nitty gritty of how those needs and wants are met.

I’m not suggesting someone would turn a blind eye to dangers, laws or morals. But think of your own buying behaviors. Typically, we don’t care how something works, we just care that it does. Or we care about some very specific aspect of how it works that is tied to us getting the result that we want.

It might be speed, expense, reliability, safety etc. that is tied back to that emotional tug. It’s all about the end result, though. Contrast that “cut to the chase” hunger for a solution with the marketing or sales’ teams attempts to sell.

We often build elaborate cases for how and why our product/service is the absolutely right solution. We list benefits (with bullet points and visuals) that dig into the nuances of every aspect of how we get something accomplished. See the disconnect?

Worried that your marketing might be putting the spotlight on the wrong part of the equation? Here are some common trouble spots.

Headlines: Most headlines are feature headlines. They are about us, not the consumer. “From 0-60 in 5 seconds” is talking about an attribute of our product. “You’ll never be late for another soccer game” is about the buyer’s desires.

Try this instead: Make sure your headline is making a promise or pointing out the consequence of them not using your product. Use the buyer’s emotions to connect them to how your wares can solve their problem.

Tradeshow booths: Because space is at a premium in trades show signage, booth graphics and materials – we tend to use bullet points galore. We want to pack in the facts. Which means we’re telling our story, not the one the buyer wants to hear.

Try this instead: Think about what your prospects ask most. Use your booth to answer those frequently asked questions about end results, rather than talk features.

Sales presentations: If you pull out some old sales presentations, take this simple test. Grade each PowerPoint slide – about us or about them. In most cases, your slides are going to be 75% about you and about 25% about what the customer wants.

Try this instead: Use this recipe for putting together your next presentation. The first 2/3 of the slides should be about the client, client’s business, their challenge and what you can do it fix it. Then, take that final 1/3 of your slides and divide them into 2. The first half – you can give them some information about your company, working with you, etc. The final ½ should be re-focused on the prospect and solving their problem.

If you start looking at all of your marketing materials with this new perspective, you’ll quickly be able to spot which ones need to have their focus re-adjusted to be more about the customer and less about you.

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Bad things happen in the dark

March 4, 2013

When you think about it — being in the dark is always scary. When you were a kid, laying in bed and you heard a strange noise in your closet or under your bed you never thought to yourself, “hey, I bet there’s an ice cream sundae making machine in there!”

No — it was always a monster, a giant spider or a deranged killer.

There’s something about being in the dark that makes us feel vulnerable and afraid.  And that doesn’t seem to change as we get older.

Guess what — the same thing happens to us when we’re kept in the dark on a project.  And yet…one of the biggest and most common mistakes that businesses make every single day is that we under communicate.

When the project is just cooking along, we’re busy doing the work.  But what we forget is that our client is on the other side of the equation, wondering how things are going.  They need reassurance that something is happening and everything is on schedule and going according to plan.

But few businesses have “check in” points, where they just report back to the client. And it’s even worse if there’s trouble.  Then the silence is deafening.

If you want to increase your client satisfaction and retention — increase your communication.  The longer your processes are — the more communication check points you need.  Don’t  make a client ask you for an update.  Set a regular schedule (might be once a day, once a week, etc.) so they know when they’re going to hear from you.

Even if the update is as simple as “everything is on schedule and going fine” it will go a long way to keeping that client feeling like you have everything in hand and they don’t need to worry.

 

Photo courtesy of BigStockPhoto.com

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Write so they will hear you

October 30, 2012

Most people, when faced with the blank screen on their computer and a deadline for a new marketing piece looming, get a little uptight.

It’s intimidating to capture everything you want a prospect to know and share it in a compelling way. Your product or service is superb and you have so much to say — how will you do it justice?

Which is why most marketing copy is dreadful. Here are the most common mistakes:

• We do a brain dump, sharing everything we know.
• We want to demonstrate that we’re experts so we use impressive words and jargon that shows that we’re in the know.
• We cram way too many words into the piece because it’s all important.
• We talk about our company, our product, and our people…but not about the customer.

If you make even one of those mistakes, odds are your prospect is taking a glance at your first two or three sentences and then moving on. You haven’t invited them into the conversation – you’re just talking about you.

Remember, you are trying to start a conversation. Who would you rather talk to – someone who walks up to you and asks a question about you or a person who walks up and starts telling you all about them?

So how do we avoid those mistakes?  We can ask ourselves these questions.

How do they talk?
I can have the best deal in the world, but if I tell you about it in Japanese and you don’t speak Japanese – you can’t possibly want what I am selling.

You need to know your prospect well enough that you know how they talk.

• Are they engineers who use very precise, detailed language and acronyms?
• Are they teachers who speak about their students with affection and pride?
• Are they purchasing agents who need to squeeze every penny from the deal and deliver the highest ROI possible?

Understanding the language they use and how they’re going to have to sell your offering up/down the food chain, will allow you to craft your message in their native tongue.

Your prospects are busy and won’t take the time to translate your marketing messages. If they don’t instantly understand it and see that you’re talking to them, they’ll pass it by every time.

Do they know they need you?
No one wants to buy something they don’t need or want. That sounds like a duh, but many times businesses try to sell solutions to a client who doesn’t realize they have a problem.

Often, we just go right to the solution without even mentioning the problem. Let’s say that I want to sell my home in the next 12 months. You own a landscape business and send me information about how good your work is, showing me pictures of gorgeous yards, etc.

But I dismiss it, because I’m not going to live in my house much longer so why spend money on something I won’t get to enjoy?

You’ve lost the sale, because I don’t know I need you. But if one of your marketing pieces was titled “5 landscaping tricks to sell your house faster” now you have my attention.

If the first line of body copy told me that 34% of buyers passed on at least one home because the landscaping was disappointing – you have just converted a “no” into an interested prospect.
Now you have my attention.

By paying attention to these two elements – you can effectively avoid all four of the mistakes I mentioned.

You’ll speak in their language and only talk about what matters to them – their problems and how you can solve them.

 

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Let your customers help

October 22, 2012

There are some human truths that, if you allow them to, can dramatically impact your marketing efforts and focus.

• Human Truth #1: We want to be helpful
• Human Truth #2: We like being part of an exclusive group
• Human Truth #3: We like to be perceived as smart and in the know
• Human Truth #4: We like being asked for our opinion
• Human Truth #5: We like it when other people know that we’re a part of an exclusive group and in the know

When you add all of those together – you create an opportunity to incent your regular customers to go beyond buying your product or service and actually become your advocate.

I recently saw a study commissioned by the Corporate Executive Board that found 60% of the sales cycle is over before a buyer ever speaks to a salesperson. That’s a staggering statistic and it is a cold, hard slap in the face reminder that a host of factors including word of mouth, social media, your website, and review sites are having a powerful impact on your business – whether you know it or not.

When you consider that much of your sales process is actually occurring in advance of what you can control — your official sales process, it makes leveraging your best customers and giving them ample opportunity to sing your praises an even more vital tactic. It’s your best shot at moving the prospect along the spectrum.

How do you activate your customer army? Here are some ways:

User Generated Content: Get your customers to submit stories, photos, artistic renderings or videos that talk about how they use/love your product or service. Better yet – make it a contest where votes matter. Then, not only will they upload their own content but they’ll also ask their network to vote for their entry, exposing each and every one of them to your brand as well.

Create an Advisory Board/Online brainstorming: Whether you want to choose a small group of best customers to create a formal group, like an advisory panel or open this up a little for some groupthink– you can pick their brains for new ideas, variations and even parallel products and services. Who is better positioned to know how to make what you sell even better?

Exclusive events with a twist: Remembering that your existing customers want to feel like they’re part of something elite but that they also love sharing access – throw some sort of an exclusive event. It might be a ticket holders only sale, a highly sought after speaker, or something else that would appeal to your audience. Offer admission to your best customers – but with a twist. To get in, they must bring someone who is not a current customer.

Let them decide: Give your best customers a chance to impact your brand. Conduct a poll that allows them to truly change an element of your business. It might be surrounding a new product launch or a pricing issue or something else. But trust their judgment, open up the voting and you’ll be amazed at what you’ll learn.

Proctor & Gamble believes so strongly in this method of marketing, they’ve developed their own formula, which is:

VIP vote + Sneak Peek + Inside Scoop

The psychology behind all of this makes perfect sense. We care more about something when we’re a part of it. The more you can relinquish some of the control/power to your customers, the more you can make them feel so much the insider that they’re invested in your success, just as if they worked for you.

Try one or a combination of these marketing tactics to turn your customers into your most active cheerleaders.

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What clear signals do you suppose you’re missing?

August 8, 2012

I had a few little electrical projects that needed to be done around the house. So I turned to my Angie’s List favorites.

Once I found the right business, I had an array of choices in terms of how I wanted to connect with them.  I clicked on the email icon and jotted a quick note, describing exactly what I needed to have fixed.

Within a few hours the electrician emailed me back with this message: “Sounds good Drew, give me a call to discuss.”

Um, no.  I didn’t accidentally click on the email icon.  I made a conscious choice.  It’s not that I am anti-phone.  Heck…ask AT&T how pro-phone I am.  But, during business hours, I just don’t have time to talk to him.  I’m in meetings, on the phone with clients and on the run.  Which is why I emailed him to begin with.

What could have been an easy sale is now tangled up because he didn’t pay attention to the very clear signal I sent.  I don’t have time to call him…so odds are, the work just won’t get done for a little while.  A lost sale.

What clear signals do you suppose you’re missing?

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Hello? Is there a human inside?

July 11, 2012

Honestly — haven’t you felt that way more than once when you’ve dealt with a business?

Either their marketing materials are so full of corporate speak that you can’t figure out what the heck they’re talking about or the service you get is lackluster at best and that’s being kind.

As consumers continue to get more jaded coupled with the fact that every business has plenty of competition out there — what consumers want and need from us is to know that we’re human.  They don’t expect perfection.  They just want to know that you’re real, that you care and that you’re not blowing smoke up their skirt.  That’s how they are going to choose.  They’re going to pick the company they like the best and they can’t like you if you are invisible to them.

So the question becomes — how do you show your human side?  How do you give your customers and prospects a sense of who you are and what matters to you?  If you and your brand are playful — how do you reveal that?  If you have a deep passion for what you do, where does that show up?

I don’t think too many businesses ask themselves those kinds of questions.  But we need to.  We need to actually make a connection long before the cash register rings.  Depending on your business — you might be able to do that in a one-to-one way.  But for most organizations, that won’t cover it.  They need to find a mass produced way of being real.

Yup — a mass produced way of being real.  How?

Here are two great examples.  One is the note from the company CEO that comes inside every package of Cold-EEZE.  The second is a grocery bag from Capital Market. (Hat tip to Tom Narak for sharing the grocery bag photo with me)

 

Can’t you just hear their voices?  Can’t you feel their spirit and don’t you have a sense of what it would be like to interact with them?  I don’t know about you, but I want go to that grocery store.  I’d expect to be completely delighted by the experience.

I can hear you now.  “But Drew, those are consumer products.  In the B-to-B world, we can’t do things like that.”  I call bull on that.  Yes, you can.  Every company has a spirit.  We can call it your brand or your true north or your core reason for being.  But it’s there.  And it’s your job, no… your responsibility to show it to us.

All of us, every consumer on the planet, desperately wants to know if there’s a human inside.

Show us.

 

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Do you SoLoMo?

April 6, 2012

I know — it sounds like a line dance but it’s actually a quickly emerging marketing trend that you need to have on your radar.

SoLoMo is the combination of social, location and mobile. It takes the form of mobile phone apps that combine social networking and location data.

The blend of these makes perfect sense. We know that social is working for local businesses. A business with 100+ fans are experiencing a much higher engagement and click-through rates.

20% of all searches has a local intent, and more and more of them are happening real time on a smart phone (I’m looking for a shoe repair place near me and I have the shoe in the car with me.)

In fact, 70% of all searches done on a smart phone result in action within one hour. (read that stat again if you think you don’t need a mobile optimized website)

So people are using their phone to find what they need/want NOW. That’s where SoLoMo fits in perfectly.

Probably the SoLoMo app that most people are familiar with is Foursquare. You have an app on your smart phone that uses its GPS capabilities to allow you to “check in” when you’re at a specific location. Many people who don’t foursquare will often say…why would I do that? What’s in it for me to check in?

Beyond the ramification aspects (badges, mayorships etc) that Foursquare built into the app, there are often advantages that come through the merchant. For example this morning, I have a meeting at Gateway Market. When I checked in, I was greeted with a coupon for Gateway that I could redeem at that moment.

That’s SoLoMo in action. Offering the user an immediate reward for being in a specific place.

Another example of SoLoMo would a smartphone app that determines your location, suggests businesses close by, and even provided ratings/reviews of that business. After going there, you could post your own ratings/reviews and photos on their system or places like Facebook or Yelp.

One of the coolest applications that I’ve seen adds a geofencing factor. Geofencing is the ability to draw a virtual perimeter around a specific area. There’s a real estate company called DDR Corp that owns a ton of U.S. shopping centers and they’re using this technology in 25+ open air malls.

Their program is called ValuText and here’s how it works:

A shopper enters the mall’s borders (geofencing) and if they’ve opted in, they’ll receive text messages from specific stores about sales and promotions happening at that very moment.

Think of the win/win here.

• The retailers love it because they can communicate with people who are literally a few steps away from their store.
• The shoppers love it because they’re being served up deals they can take advantage of instantly.
• The mall must love it because I have to think occupancy isn’t a problem when they’re offering their merchants this kind of perk.

One of the nice features of this tool is that it doesn’t even require that the user have a smartphone. By using text messages, it simplifies the technology requirements dramatically.  What could you do with technology like ValuText?

We’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible with SoLoMo.  I can remember watching the movie Minority Report and marveling at the mall scene, where Tom Cruise is being “detected” by advertising and it’s changing based on his preferences.  At the time, it seemed like black magic.  Today, it’s just SoLoMo at work.  (Granted in an advanced state)

Check out this :30 clip from the movie to see it in action. Listen for when the ads actually call out his name.  Incredible.  (Email subscribers — click here to view)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBaiKsYUdvg[/youtube]

Want to learn more about SoLoMo?  Check out the SoLoMo manifesto by clicking here.  This is where were headed folks, so don’t get caught off guard.

 

P.S.  Full disclosure:  I know the agency that created ValuText and was awed by it when they shared it with me.

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When you set the bar — better keep your eye on it

March 20, 2012

In almost every category, there’s a champion.

Apple, Harley Davidson and of course…Disney. Each of these brands set the bar. They’ve defined excellence and their competitors struggle to catch up.

They are the gold standard.

An enviable position to be sure. Or is it?

Last week, we spent our Spring Break in Orlando.  If you’re a regular reader — you know this is not new territory for me.  In fact, I’ve been to Walt Disney World at least once a year since it opened in 1971.  It’s a magical place for me and no one is more pro Disney than me.

One of the elements of Disney that I love the most is their commitment to customer service.  They call it Disney friendly and it is something to behold.  (They even have an institute dedicated to teaching it to others)  We love catching Disney cast members creating what we’ve deemed “a Disney moment.”  A kid licks the ice cream right out of his cone.  A cast member runs and gets him a new cone.  A room is not ready when promised.  A cast member gives the entire party free passes to the parks.  A reservation is messed up.  Cast members send up a beautiful chocolate Mickey.

But lately — we’ve noticed fewer and fewer Disney moments.  In fact, we’ve noticed that Disney cast members are behaving more and more like ordinary employees.  I don’t know if it’s because they’re running leaner on staff or if they’ve cut back on the training — but somewhere along the way, some of the cast members have forgotten that while it’s a regular work day for them, it’s a dream of a lifetime day for the guest in front of them.

Seems like the bar is slipping a little.  At the same time, Disney’s competitors, chiefly Universal Studios and Sea World are stepping up their game.  We crossed over to the dark side and visited Universal Studios (we wanted to see the Harry Potter park) this trip.  I don’t know if they stole Disney’s best employees or just their best training program — but the Universal employees couldn’t have been more exceptional.  They were delivering “disney moments” left and right.  The theme parks were nothing extraordinary — Disney still has them beat there, but from an experience point of view — the little guys have been learning from the champ and are starting to clean their clock.

What’s the marketing lesson in all of this for us?

If you are the market leader and you’ve defined excellence — you have everything to lose.  You cannot sit on your laurels.  You need to find ways to keep the passion for delivering that excellence alive and well in your employees.  You have not only set the bar but you’ve set your customer’s expectations.

I’m no longer surprised by Disney moments… I expect them.  And while I still enjoy seeing them, they’re a given for me.  So when they are not there — it is a deficit that I notice.  And it is a deficit that gets talked about.  (Bad word of mouth)

If you’re not the market leader — the lesson is — keep pushing.  The guy in the front of the pack may grow weary or hit some sort of bump that will allow you to surge ahead of them.  Don’t assume you can’t have that lead position.  When you over-deliver, it is a surprise and delights your customers.  And it will get talked about.  (Good word of mouth)

If you set the bar — mind the bar.  It’s yours to keep or lose.  And how that plays out is completely up to you.

 

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Don’t add frill until your core is rock solid

February 2, 2012

A couple times a month a cleaning company comes into our house and does a deep clean.

Every time I walk into the house after they’ve cleaned… the toilet paper rolls and tissues sticking out of the boxes are folded in some sort of origami art.  Sometimes, they leave a truffle on the kitchen counter.

I get what they’re trying to do.  And it’s a lovely little extra.  Unfortunately, I also find things like:

• Every waste basket in the wrong spot (they’ve been cleaning the house for over a year)
• The back door unlocked or a window left open
• A few lights left on
• Bathroom area rugs still hanging on the door (where they put it while they cleaned the floor)
• Cleaning supplies left in random places because they forgot to pack them up

The net result?  I walk around the house, fixing what is wrong and being frustrated that these simple things can’t be mastered.  It’s not that the house isn’t clean — it’s that they don’t care enough to do a final walk through and put the house back in order.

And when I see the origami art — I think “if they can take the time to fold my Kleenex, why can’t they take the time to put the rug back on the floor?”  I suspect that’s not the reaction they’re going for.

Here’s the lesson for all of us.  Everyone is looking to include some value add into their offerings.  But you can’t do that if you’re not already knocking it out of the park on your basic services/product.

You can put lipstick on a pig…but that doesn’t change the fact that underneath is still a pig. Before you add any window dressing — do a tune up in these boring, mundane but necessary areas:

• Billing/Invoicing
• Production schedules/On time delivery
• Customer service — access to real people
• Operations — do you do what you say you’ll do when and how you said you’d do it?
• Ease of use — are you easy to do business with (functioning website, phone gets answered etc.)

 

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What you don’t know about your sales funnel

January 30, 2012

We all think and talk about our sales funnel a lot.  We’re always saying things like:

• We need to keep it full.
• We need to stay active with the prospects that have been in it for awhile.
• On average, it takes a prospect X months to move through it.
• And so on….

But consider the statistic to the right.  60% of your sales efforts are what happens before you have actively put someone into the funnel.  In other words — it’s not you who is doing the selling.

Who is?

• Your existing customers
• The customer who left and is working with your competitors
• Your vendors
• Your website
• Review sites
• Your social presence (or lack thereof)

How much do you know about your pre-funnel sales machine?  Do you know what’s being said?  Maybe the bigger question — how should you be influencing those conscious and accidental sales efforts?

Think about how you shop — whether it’s for work or something for home.  Do you beeline for a salesperson or sales collateral?  Or do you do a little bit of investigating first?

Get out a piece of paper and do this exercise.  Write down the bullet points I have above (starting with your existing customers) and next to each bullet point — describe what you would ideally like a prospect to hear/see/experience from each source.

Then — go to each source and see what’s actually being said/experienced.   I’m guessing you’ll identify some areas that require your attention.

After all — your prospects are paying attention to these sources — shouldn’t you?

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